


On the Road in Hell

by vassalady



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Angst, F/M, Gift Fic, Hope, Mild Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-20
Updated: 2014-09-20
Packaged: 2018-02-17 23:13:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2326610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vassalady/pseuds/vassalady
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve and Peggy, traversing a world that has become a wasteland, run into another pair of survivors. But Steve and Peggy have their own unique weight in this crisis they will forever carry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On the Road in Hell

**Author's Note:**

  * For [andibeth82](https://archiveofourown.org/users/andibeth82/gifts).



> This is a gift for andibeth82! Some post-apocalyptic angst-flavored fic for you! I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> This was fun to write and to come up with a scenario that could rid the earth of most of its life. This AU takes Captain America's canon up to right before Bucky's fall - after that, history took a different turn. Shifted when people lived, as well, so Clint and Natasha are alive and well in this 50s-ish world. Other than countless post-apocalyptic stories, this was also influenced by the House of M Captain America tie-in issue.
> 
> Thanks to the mods for all their work running the fest!

Steve isn’t sure how long they’ve been walking. He loses track of time easily these days. It becomes a cycle of sleeping and walking, scavenging and sleeping and walking some more. He would go crazy if not for Peggy.

“Come on,” she says, touching his elbow. “We should find the next town before the day is out.”

The highway stretches ahead and behind them. The pavement is cracked and full of potholes, with scraggly bushes growing up where they can.

Steve looks out across the mostly barren land. This used to be America’s heartland, the bread bowl. Now it’s just a mass of decay.

He hoists his bag higher. For some reason, he still carries his shield - a reminder of days gone by, of what they used to fight for, and what role they played in its destruction.

\--

They won the war. They won, and Steve and Bucky returned to New York. Steve asked Peggy to marry him. She said yes. Steve, for the first time since he was a boy, could see agood future shaping in front of him.

But that was just until the next war came along. This time, their enemy was fuzzy. And they had new weapons. Combining the Tesseract with nuclear power was supposed to be the ultimate deterrent. It wasn’t supposed to be used, not after the destruction that the world had seen in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

But it was used anyway. For some reason, it was used. Then the world crumbled.

\--

It’s late by the time they get into the town. The sun is setting, and with winter biting at their heels, the temperature drops low at night.

Many of the buildings are crumbling. The streets are in terrible condition, with debris from panicked riots in what ended up being the last days of civilization. There’s glass and trash everywhere, smashed up cars, and broken poles and street signs crisscrossing the street. The store fronts all show signs of looting. But if anyone still lives in that town, they haven’t been to this part in a long time.

They manage to find some cans of food in one grocery store. They tuck them away in their bags, even though their stomachs ache to eat them now.

Peggy leads the way into a department store. There’s no light - electricity went early - so they use one of their flashlights. They search through the store, picking up what seems useful and leaving most of it. Batteries, some packaged snacks that will undoubtedly prove stale, and each grab another coat.

Steve sighs with relief at the fresh socks.

“What an extravagance,” Peggy says, teasing, but she’s just as happy to change her socks and exchange the hole-worn ones in the bottom of her bag. 

“Never thought a new pair of socks could make me so happy,” Steve says with a shake of his head. “You know, as much as my mom and I didn’t have much, socks never were very exciting.”

Peggy rests her head against Steve’s chest. They found the bedding department, and wrapped up in blanket after blanket. Steve places his arms around her, holding her close. “So what was exciting?”

Steve hums, and he smiles, thinking about birthdays and Christmases long gone. “New pencils and new comics. A nickel to spend when Mom could spare it, most often after she was paid, and I’d wait for her outside of the hospital.”

It doesn’t hurt to talk about his mother, not the way it is to talk about what life was like in general. Since she died long before the world went to hell, it’s someone he knows for sure is gone.  
There aren’t many like that these days. He usually just supposes they are gone. Or he would, if he would be willing to give up that last string of hope.

“Bucky and I would trade our comics, so we could read twice as much as either one of us could afford individually. Well, I say twice, but…” Steve laughs. “He bought three times as much as me.” Steve falls quiet.

He hopes to hell Bucky is okay.

It says something of all their time together the past year that Peggy glances up and knows what he’s thinking. “He’ll be fine,” she said. “He’s a fighter, you know he is.”

“What if there’s no one else to find?” Steve asks. “What if it’s just… this? Tiny handfuls of survivors leeching off damaged remains.”

“Steven Grant Rogers.” Peggy pulls away, her voice stern. “You are not allowed to give up now. Bucky’s trying to get to other continents, to see what’s left of them, and here you are saying it’s pointless.”

Steve bristles at her words. “I’m not,” he says. “I’m exhausted, but I’ll never give up. But I’m scared for him, I’m scared for anyone out there, and damn it, I think, what if he dies because I didn’t go with him?” His voice raises as he goes on, but he manages to keep enough control to not shout.

“Steve,” Peggy says, voice soft, “you trust Barnes more than anyone in the world. That’s why you let him go.”

Steve sighs. He knows that. “I’m sorry,” he says, and he pulls the blankets a little tighter. Bucky can handle himself. And it isn’t fair of him to go on like that when Peggy doesn’t know if her family is alive or dead. “You’re right.” He smiles at her. “So why did you come with me? Could have been having the time of your life in Rome or Cairo.”

She smiles back and leans in for a quick kiss. “Because you’re hopeless without me.”

Although she means it in a completely different fashion, it’s true. Steve might have given up without Peggy with him. As much as he doesn’t want to rely on others, and he never has, he recognizes in himself that he needs to be with people, with ones he cares for.

He might lose sight of what’s important otherwise. Of what he’s fighting for.

It’s been a long time since they’ve been intimate. They don’t often have this luxury of staying in warm beds (of a sort) so they take their time with lazy kisses and gentle touches.

The blankets underneath them aren’t quite enough protection to make it not sting a little when Peggy shoves him down and his head snaps back. But Steve just laughs, rubbing the back of his head, and then leans up to kiss between Peggy’s breasts.

It’s almost normal for a little while. But neither of them can really forget.

\--

When Steve heard Howard Stark was trying to harness the power of the Tesseract, he stormed into his lab.

“You can’t seriously be thinking this is a good idea?” he said, pointing an accusing finger at the Tesseract. It sat in a contained observation room, with numerous readouts on different screens scattered about the lab.

“Steve, you saw those HYDRA weapons,” Howard said. “This could revolutionize our technology. We could even be heading to Mars one of these days with the power this thing can produce. In ten years, who knows?”

Steve crossed his arms and glared down at Howard. “You do weapons. Even if you didn’t, this thing will get weaponized, all your friends in Washington will do it.”

Behind him, he heard heeled boots clacking on the floor, followed by Peggy’s voice. “Steve. You shouldn’t be here.”

Steve turned to her. “You knew about this?”

Peggy adopted his same stance, arms crossed, hip jutted out, and eyebrow raised. “Yes, I did, Steve. Stark is doing this as part of the new Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division.”

“That’s quite a mouthful.”

Peggy didn’t back down. “There are things you used to say. How we had to serve our nations and our people. This is power that could help people, Steve.”

Steve walked by her. He paused at the door to say, “You were on the frontline with me, Peggy. We saw what that power could do. We used that power. And don’t think people won’t want to use it like that again.”

\--

Steve is surprised to find a little light filtering through somewhere into the department store. There must be a hole in the roof or they are not as deep in as he thought.

They use the light to do some more scavenging of the store. A cold snap came in overnight. Although they’ve tried hard to get south before the weather worsens, they can’t move fast enough on foot it seems. They take some of the extra blankets. They take enough supplies that they have to pack another bag. It’ll be heavy to carry, but worth it when they find themselves in the middle of nowhere.

What they don’t expect is to find an arrow pointed at their faces and a gun at their backs when they try to leave.

The man is holding a bow and arrow. He’s wearing dark sunglasses, and his mouth is twisted in a grimace.

Steve risks a glance back, but all he catches is a flash of red before the man in front barks at him to face front.

“We’re just passing through,” Steve says.

“We were just leaving,” Peggy adds.

Steve is angry with himself for letting down his guard, but he’s not surprised. Although there are few survivors, they’ve run into more than a couple of them who have taken to mugging. Out in the country, there’s not enough people, but there are those in towns who are dangerous.

It’s a bad start to their day.

“We don’t have anything that you can’t get in there.” Steve nods toward the department store. “More than we would ever need.”

Whoever has the gun behind them speaks. (Steve knows it’s a gun, because he heard the safety disengage.) It’s a woman’s voice. “Where you headed?”

“South,” Peggy says, “to escape the winter.”

The man doesn’t lower his bow. “British accent, never thought I’d hear one of those again.” The woman behind them sighs. “You got any weapons on you?”

Peggy and Steve remain silent. Peggy has two guns, and they both have knives, although Steve doesn’t use his for anything other than trimming branches and jimmying locks. Then there’s the shield, but Steve would rather not take that out.

The woman snorts. “We don’t want whatever you have. Just want to make sure you aren’t going to jump us.”

“You jumped us,” Peggy says sharply.

“It’s our home,” the man says.

Finally, he lowers his bow. Behind them, there’s the click of the safety being engaged. The woman walks around, and the red Steve saw turns out to be her hair, short and curling around her ears.

“Natasha,” she says as she holsters her gun, “and this is Clint.”

Steve and Peggy introduce themselves, sticking to just their first names. Clint and Natasha offer to escort them out of the town, but Steve has other plans.

“Look,” he says, “we’re trying to find other survivors. See if we can’t bring everyone who’s willing together. You two came up on us rather sudden, which is quite a feat.”

“We could use a couple extra bodies if you’d like to join us,” Peggy says.

They don’t offer to tell them where a permanent camp is being set up. Not yet. Few have taken them up on that offer, but they only give it after ascerting the survivors they encounter are trustworthy.

The world is rough. As much as Steve hates doing it, it’s a necessary precaution he’s learned to take.

“We like our set up here,” Natasha says. “Empty, but has what we need.”

“But, if you want to spend another night, we wouldn’t mind the company,” Clint says.

Natasha looks sharply at Clint. They fall out of step with Steve and Peggy and have a near silent discussion.

When they come back, Natasha looks resigned. But there’s also a hint of pleased relief when they agree to Clint’s offer.

Steve understands it. The need for human companionship is strong, even for the most suspicious. It’s a loneliness he feels more than he’d like.

Clint and Natasha lead them to their home. It’s cozy, insulated, and well protected. It used to be a general store, Clint explains, but they’ve done some renovations. The apartment above gives them a good vantage point down Main Street, where they spotted Steve and Peggy last night heading into the department store.

What really gets to both Steve and Peggy is that Clint and Natasha have a wood stove. That night, they eat hot beans and bread that Clint baked the day before with a makeshift stove-top oven. They wash it all down with water from the rain barrel. It might as well be heaven.

Clint and Natasha don’t share their story, but neither do they ask much about Steve and Peggy. It’s comfortable though, good in a way that Steve hasn’t felt in a long time, and they spend hours swapping stories about before.

Steve watches the way that Clint and Natasha watch out for each other. They move so in sync, they must have been together for years before. As the night wears on, Clint drifts off, head in Natasha’s lap, and she strokes his hair away.

It’s then that Steve and Peggy tell her of the survivors’ camp.

“To be honest, we’re not sure how big it is now,” Peggy says. “It’s in New Jersey, though, Fort Lehigh. If you can manage to get there, let them know we sent you, they’ll let you in.”

“How many have said they’d go?” Natasha asks.

“Six,” Steve says. It’s a bitter number, but it’s a high percentage of the total people they’ve met. But Steve thinks that just makes it worse.

There are so few of them left.

Steve and Peggy sleep well again that night. But when morning comes, Steve can’t find his shield.

It’s because Natasha is gripping it tightly in her hands, and she and Clint stare at Steve and Peggy in horror. “You can’t be him,” Clint says.

“Tell us how you got this.”

Steve knows he should have ditched the shield long ago.

\--

The government owned Captain America. Whatever Steve himself thought, they could use his image as they pleased. And Captain America was for every American war.

He withdrew from Peggy and her team at the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. SHIELD, they shortened it to. Shield. Funny. 

But no matter what he said or thought, no matter that he testified before a committee, they kept up the development of Tesseract-nuclear weapons.

“This country is seeing enemies everywhere all of a sudden,” Steve said one evening. Peggy had arrived home late due to work, and he couldn’t stand it anymore. “Today someone asked me if I was ‘willing to fight off the homegrown Reds.’ What is this. Peggy?”

“It’s the world, Steve. Same as it ever was. And just because one war ends doesn’t mean that there won’t be another to fight.”

There was something all wrong about this though. Steve had done things he didn’t feel proud of during the war, but this, this seemed to be the US starting one, looking for an enemy to fight and making the means to do it. And that didn’t sit right with him.

He didn’t go to the announcement ceremony for the Arc. It was a new kind of power, one that could be used for so many things, but as always, it came down to weapons. The National Broadcasting Company and all the radio stations aired it. Steve watched the television broadcast, watched Stark speak. Peggy was there, although she wasn’t formally introduced.

When she got home, he didn’t speak with her. She didn’t bother to try either. 

Within three months, the first Arc bomb went off. Captain America was the face of it, Stark the name behind it, and SHIELD and the US government were its financiers. 

At least the people had someone to blame.

\--

“The road to hell, as they say,” Peggy says. They sit across from Clint and Natasha at a small table, the shield in the center between them.

“You were supposed to have all died during the retaliation attacks,” Natasha says. She stares at the shield, not looking at either of them. Clint can’t look at them either, but he faces the window.

“There were casualties,” Peggy says. “But not all of us, no.”

Steve’s fingers rest just beyond the edge of the shield. “What’s done is done,” he says. “We can only look forward from here.”

Clint shakes his head. “All those people,” he murmurs.

Steve and Peggy don’t say anything else. What can they say? Make excuses? They both played their own parts in the destruction of the world. That they will carry the rest of their lives.

Underneath the table, Steve squeezes Peggy’s hand.

But then Natasha says, “Stop, Clint. It’s not as if we have perfect records.”

Natasha and Clint share a glance, and Steve sees a world in that glance. Whatever these two have been through, it’s bound them closer than ever. Whether it was good or bad, they are where they are now, supporting each other. Maybe in penance, maybe not. Either way, it’s something he recognizes.

He holds Peggy’s hand a little tighter.

Clint and Natasha let them go. When they wish Steve and Peggy good luck, it’s genuine.

Whatever happened in the past, they are all survivors. They are what’s left of the world, and it’s up to them to rebuild.

Steve hopes that they’ll meet again. As unlikely as it is, he wants to return to Lehigh and find Clint and Natasha there. He wants to wait for when Bucky returns, a whole crew of people in tow. And they will rebuild.

It may be a pipe dream, but it’s one Steve will hold on to.

“Where now?” he asks Peggy.

“South,” she says. “Like we planned.”

“South…” Steve glances at her. She has her hands shoved in her pockets, braced against the chill air. He reaches over and entwines his hand around hers, inside her pocket. “Until then, I’ll keep you warm.”

Peggy’s smile spreads across her face. “Rogers, you are the charmer.”

“Only the best for my girl.”

They continue south, following the broken highway. Once again, nothingness seems to be in front and behind them. But Steve knows there’s more than that, things the landscape can’t, yet, reflect.

The world went to hell, but Steve and Peggy know they can help it be reborn.


End file.
